


Runaways

by K (Thiswasmydesign)



Series: Wammy's House Series [13]
Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga), Death Note: Another Note
Genre: A bit sad, Bullying, Gen, Mello is 10, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of child neglect, Near is 9, Runaway A, Runaway Mello, Runaway Near, Wammy House, Wammy's Era, a bit sweet, aggression amonst children, also not detailed, not described, what started as a drabble series has turned into a single story written out of order
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 12:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13927440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thiswasmydesign/pseuds/K
Summary: A has gone missing from Wammy's house. It isn't the first time, but at this point only Bully Backup knows that it will be the last. A devastated Backup takes out his frustrations on those around him, and Mello decides that they need to strike out on their own before Backup finally snaps and kills someone.





	Runaways

**Author's Note:**

> This one isn't exactly fluff, but there are some sweet Mello/Near bits. It's strange to think this series of one shot / drabbles started as a set of one word prompts from a friend and now seems to have its own plot. When they're complete, would it make more sense to put them together as one story? I like it this way because they can be read separately and together, and I can add chapters to it out of order whenever I like.  
> T only for language

The whole of Wammy’s house was on edge that day.

A was missing. He had done this before, but never for this long. Usually the police would pick him up somewhere or another, hitchhiking or walking along the edge of a road somewhere. It helped that he always seemed to have the same destination as his goal, to get off the mainland and go to the Isle of Wight.

A’s family came from there originally, and Near had been quietly present in the room once when Wammy had been telling the police about A’s alcoholic mother who kept trying to contact her son. It seemed that A was not as much of an orphan as the rest of them. His mother still wanted him, but she wasn’t considered safe for him to be around. Near concluded that now that A was older he was going to make a concerted effort to find her and meet her. He knew he would if either of his parents were still alive.

This time was different though. Usually when A ran away Backup would cover for him for as long as possible. The bully of the house was surprisingly loyal with his friend. This time Backup had gone to Wammy as soon as he found A missing that morning, and he hadn’t settled ever since.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Mello reassured Backup over lunch, having dragged Near and Matt to sit with him, arguing that they shouldn’t let him be alone when he was upset. Near thought Mello was far too kind for his own good and that he would regret it. Backup was cruel, dangerous. He had bullied them for years and even though he wouldn’t admit it, he

“You don’t know that,” Backup huffed, looking more morose than threatening.

“He does this all the time,” Mello reminded, “he always comes back alright.”

“It’s just a matter of time,” Backup looked over Near’s head, then Matt’s and Mello’s. He never looked people in the eye unless he was threatening them; always looked over people’s heads not at their faces.

“A’s clever, he can look after himself,” Matt added.

“Will you _stop?_ ” Backup looked suddenly dangerous, his fist slamming down on the table. “You don’t fucking know, so shut the fuck up and leave me alone.”

“Let’s go Mello,” Near tugged at the older boy’s sleeve, trying to get him to leave before Backup would take out his anger on them.

“Listen to your fucking sheep,” Backup growled, leaning right in to Mello’s face so that their noses were almost touching and glaring into his eyes. “Or I bite your nose off your face – save you sticking it into other people’s business ever again.”

“Mello, please,” Near begged, tugging futilely, realising what was about to happen and terrified how Backup would react.

There was nothing, Mello once told him, that couldn’t be helped by a hug. It was a sweet little lie when he and Near were five and six years old, but Near had grown out of the idea a long time ago. Mello still considered it a sound theory. But if he were to hug Backup…

The older boy became rigid as Mello threw arms around his neck, his teeth baring into a snarl and his focus settling not on Mello, but on Near who was in his direct line of vision. In a swift movement he shook Mello loose and shoved him forcefully down under the table, launching at Near and knocking him onto his back, the chair he was sitting on overturned. The back of Near’s head hit the floor hard, and Backup’s fist struck his cheek.

“Get off him!” Mello scrambled out from under the table, grabbing one of Backup’s arms in both hands and trying to pull him away. Backup struck Near with his other fist, over and over until Near’s vision went black.

* * *

 

“We’re getting out of here,” Mello told Near when he finally woke up.

Whether by some miracle or because after all these years Backup had learned exactly where to hit for greatest effect without serious injury – which would get him into trouble – Near did wake up shortly after the attack, battered and bruised but not needing medical attention aside from some painkillers from Roger. Mello had insisted on looking after him, and Roger allowed it. The caretaker of Wammy’s house should surely do more, in time, than just send Backup to his room with one of the support workers guarding the door, but he was far too occupied with the disappearance of A which had now stretched on for nearly eight hours since he had been discovered missing.

“What?” Near was groggy and numb to the pain of his black eye and swollen cheeks due to the painkillers. He squinted at Mello, trying to convince his usually swift thoughts to work and process Mello’s words.

“We can’t stay,” Mello lifted a pair of backpacks onto Near’s bed; his was already packed. “Backup’s getting worse, he’s going to kill someone and I think it might be you, if we stay, and I won’t let him do that.”

“We can’t go,” Near worked out slowly. “We have nowhere _to_ go.”

“We have each other, and I can look after both of us,” Mello reassured him. “Come on Near, you need to pack your bag – or tell me what you need, yeah, that’s better, you stay comfortable.”

“But Mello, Roger will be worried…”

“Roger doesn’t care about us,” Mello huffed, rifling through Near’s toys to find the ones he knew were Near’s very favourites. “He probably won’t even notice we’re gone. He only even noticed A was gone because Backup told him.”

“But look how worried he is,” Near fretted. It was difficult, with the degree of pain relief in his system, to suppress his own emotions. “If we go missing too…”

“Near, this is our chance,” Mello pleaded. “It was always going to happen eventually, it’s always been the two of us against the world.”

“What about Matt?”

“He won’t come,” Mello clenched his fist over one of Near’s toys, and although he didn’t mean it the fragile plastic snapped and bent. Near yelped, pushing himself out of the bed and heavily landing on his knees beside Mello to rescue his toys. “He’s never had a problem with Backup, and he doesn’t want to leave his games.”

“We can’t just leave him,” Near tried, but Mello’s mind was made up, and it was generally pointless trying to argue with him once that was the case.

“We have to,” Mello took Near’s hands. “You and me, Near.”

“Just the two of us against the world?” Near meant it as a question but Mello took it for an agreement.

“Always,” Mello promised, pulling him in to a hug.

“But you’re going to be L?” Near’s medication slowed thoughts finally caught up to what running away would mean for Mello. If they ran away, if they didn’t get found and brought back, it wouldn’t matter that Mello had scored number one in the tests at Wammy’s house, and all that they had worked for would be gone. Mello and Near would be normal but clever children, spending their lives living in the gutter, rather than heirs to L.

“I don’t care,” Mello snarled. “What’s the point of L, being justice, if he can’t even stop people being hurt under his own roof.”

“Mello…”

“No! We’re going, and that’s final,” Mello snapped, shoving the mostly packed bag at Near, who noticed a lack of underwear amongst the clothing items. “Don’t you see, I have to keep you safe.”

“Okay Mello,” Near finally agreed, hoping that Mello would come to his senses soon. Surely when they left the house and set out on their own he would see. “Where are we going to go?”

“As far away as possible,” Mello reached into his pocket and pulled out Roger’s money clip and bank cards, which he must have stolen whilst Near was asleep. “We won’t have passports, so it’ll have to be by train, or boat and it’ll have to be this country. Maybe Wales? Scotland?”

Near nodded, hoping that it wouldn’t matter since they wouldn’t get far.

“Scotland,” Mello determined after a few moments. “There’s a train to Edinburgh we can get without any changes or anything, that way we can get away quickly before they even realise we’re gone.”

“Alright,” Near agreed, collecting a pack of playing cards for the journey and as an afterthought a pack of tarot cards too; he had only recently started to investigate their uses, and he liked their symbolism. He liked how the pictures showed one thing but meant a lot more, a bit like the people at Wammy’s house who were all far more complicated than the faces that they infrequently showed the world. He moved towards the door but Mello stopped him, guiding him instead to the window where he had already made sure of where the drainpipe was compared to the opening.

“I’ll go first, and you can follow me straight away, I won’t let you fall,” Mello promised and swung confidently out onto the old iron pipe, sliding down just enough to let Near climb out too.

Near was nervous; he didn’t have Mello’s bravery, but where Mello could lead Near was always willing to follow. He carefully reached out and touched the pipe, snatching his hand back when he felt the grime between his fingers. Biting his lip as he studied the moss and dirt, he glanced down at his white clothing and resigned himself to the mess.

“Hurry up,” Mello pressured him, so Near took hold of the pipe and determinedly looped his feet around it, copying how Mello did it. They slid down the pipe together, and as Mello promised Near he didn’t let him fall.

* * *

 

Near thought they would have been stopped by now.

His face hurt, his feet hurt, and the rain had soaked through his coats and made his clothes stick unpleasantly to his skin. The dirt from the drain pipe soaked in to his white pyjama bottoms, staining them a horrible grey-brown shade that had him desperate to change them.

“We should go back,” Near begged frequently, but Mello was single minded and determined, headed for the nearest train station with purpose.

Near could only hope that they would be stopped by the ticket seller, who would surely not sell two children who looked more like drowned rats the tickets to travel alone all the way to the other end of the United Kingdom unaccompanied.

He underestimated Mello’s abilities to use the bank card and guess Roger’s pin number, and the automatic ticket machine had sold them their tickets, putting Near’s hopes on the back burner. It seemed Mello was really going to manage this, if he set his mind to it. Near couldn’t let this continue, but he couldn’t convince Mello to turn back either.

They stood on the platform as the engine pulled in, Mello with his arms around the younger boy who was shivering from the cold and damp.

“It’ll be okay once we’re on the train,” Mello assured him, rubbing his arms to try to get him to warm up.

“I’m not coming with you,” Near spoke quietly, tears in his eyes.

“What? Of course you are,” Mello assured him. “This is about protecting you.”

“No it isn’t,” Near felt sad, but he knew it was a little bit true, hopefully enough to make a difference and convince Mello that by running away he was giving in. He was losing, and no Wammy’s child would accept losing. “This is because you’re scared. Backup got me this time, but he could go for you next. He still wants to be L, and now you’re the second in line, he might go for you as well.”

“This isn’t…”

“We can’t leave, Mello,” Near reminded him. “We have a life at Wammy’s, we have a purpose.”

“Their purpose,” Mello huffed. “What if I don’t want to be L?”

“You’re just being childish now,” Near sighed. “You do want to be L, you’re just scared.”

“I don’t get _scared_.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I’m not going back,” Mello hitched his backpack higher up his shoulder. The train was due to depart in one minute; they needed to get on.

“Well, I am,” Near told him. “I’ll stay here, wait until you’re far enough away, then I’ll tell the station where I’m from and they can call Wammy’s.”

Mello nodded, hugging Near just a little too tightly.

“You’re going to change your mind, you’re going to come after me,” Mello assured him, pushing his ticket into his hands. “The next train is in one hour. You’ll come to your senses by then, and if you don’t, you can follow as soon as you’re ready.”

“Mello, don’t go,” Near pleaded.

Mello looked out of the train door as he got into the carriage. “We both know where this is going to take us, that’s where I’ll be, waiting.”

They didn’t know, then, that one day less than a decade in the future, those would be the last words Mello would ever speak to his friend.

* * *

 

Roger was in a panic for days after he collected Near from the train station. With Mello and A still missing, and Backup taken to a separate facility, the house was quiet and a sense of doom hung over their home.

They found A first, but it wasn’t good news. The whole house mourned when they learned that A had died, though it would take several more weeks for the children to learn that he had taken his own life. Backup’s behaviour made more sense then; Wammy had returned from his travels with L to deal with the fall out of what had happened, and he told Roger that Backup had always seemed to be able to predict death and would have known what was coming. His increasingly violent behaviours made sense but were inexcusable and so Wammy made arrangements for Backup to move elsewhere and never back to Wammy’s house.

Mello was found after two weeks in Edinburgh; he could have carried on longer, having been very successful in his independence, staying in a youth hostel and having made more money than he had spent in his time away. However, when Near didn’t follow after him he had handed himself in to the authorities and allowed himself to be brought back to Wammy’s house where he joined the mourning children for A’s funeral and promised never to leave Near behind again.


End file.
